Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Thursday that her party must stop treating women as “a throw-away.”

“When we talk about women’s issues and the social issues, people have to stop acting like the woman is a throw-away here,” the Texas senator, who is retiring, said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “We’ve got to talk to women about the issues they care about.”

Hutchison’s comments came after women overall favored President Barack Obama in Tuesday’s election by significant margins, at the end of an election cycle in which Republicans were accused of waging a so-called “war on women.” The campaign season also saw a number of high-profile GOP candidates make controversial comments on subjects like rape and abortion.

“We had Republican candidates who got very high-profile and said some very stupid things,” Hutchison said. “I think that really tainted the party.”

She said that even though GOP nominee Mitt Romney immediately distanced himself from an incendiary comment about rape made by Missouri Senate hopeful Todd Akin, as did the rest of the party, the damage was already done.

“Yet it was used in the political sense against us,” she said. “I think it’s the feeling that Republicans don’t get it.”

Hutchison also said that the Republican Party’s economic message is strong, and that the party should focus on that.

“Now, on economics, and the job creation and the fiscal cliff, I think Republicans are ahead,” she said. She added later, “What we need to do is fashion a party around the economics and the long-term viability of the economy of our country. When people start trying to go to such personal issues and try to form a party around it, it’s very difficult.”